Comparison of Landsat 8 OLI and Sentinel-2A MSI spaceborn datasets for geological mapping: a case study for the Palu - Hazar Golu region along the East Anatolian Fault (Elazig, Turkey)

It is an increasing trend to use multi spectral satellite imagery in geological mapping, especially for remote regions. Moreover, the quality and quantity of such satellites have significantly increased parallel to the technological evolution. In the frame of this study, I use and compare multi spectral imagery of Landsat 8 OLI and Sentinel 2A MSI satellites for geological mapping of a region between Palu and Hazar Golu (Elazig). This region is also known to host one of the most important earthquake belts of Turkey, the East Anatolian Fault (EAF), thus, it is quite crucial to generate precise geological maps in order to document the long- and short-term kinematics of this fault zone. I processed both data sets by using RGB band combinations, bant ratio, Minumum Noise Fraction (MNF) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) techniques. The RGB band combination and MNF provide the best results for both Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 images. When I compare the results of both data sets, the RGB band combination of Sentinel 2 shows the richest image with respect to the geological map of the region. It is quite obvious that multi spectral imagery are powerful tools to increase the precision of geological maps, especially for remote regions. Sentinel 2A MSI imagery is an ideal source for geological mapping with their relatively high resolution and band quality.